Plot vs. Prose

[Jude Hardin]

A great plot written poorly will sell faster than a poor plot written greatly.

Thoughts?

[Jack Getze]

Well-handled adverbs don't suck.
But don't they almost always make the sentence longer, add a useless word or two?
I'm asking, IJ, because I've learned to listen to you, especially when at first I'm so certain I'm right. :-)

[Jack Getze]

I see I had to use a contraction and a hyphen to make mine shorter, though. :-)

[I. J. Parker]

I'm touched. The problem is not long sentences (a matter of preference), but wordy sentences. You can strip down style until there is nothing left but what you'd find in an instruction manual.

[Bob]

Adverbitise is an illness bestowed upon the newborn authors. Once the antibodies are developed to the appropriate level, the use of adverbs is rarely a problem.

As a public speaker, I learned to use adverbs as a stall technique. The mind races faster than the mouth can deliver. Adverbs flow easily, allowing time to organize and deliver the next thought or passage. In writing, they can be used effectively to draw out a thought or create a pause, adjusting the pace.

Long sentences followed by short sentences can create a rhythm in the prose which can be used to adjust the pace as well. Long-short, long-short, medium-short, medium-short, short-short...and the event occurs.

[Dana King]

Gee, I hope Jack and Ingrid aren't developing an adverb-sarial relationship.

[Jack Getze]

I don't expect IJ pays me much mind, but I'd be a fool not to listen to her. She's an established author with a big publisher, and last year she was right as rain when she told me to stop worrying about my marketing so much and concentrate on the WIP. At the time, I thought she was full of it, but I learned. Now I listen, especially when I feel adament.

[I. J. Parker]

Nice, Dana.

Wow, Jack. I had no idea. Quite right, though. Get on with the writing and do a little marketing as you go.